[214] See note 1 above, p. 100.
[215] Narshakhi, ed. Schefer, reads absurdly 292!
[216] Cf. Mīrkhwānd, Historia Samanidarum, ed. Wilken, p. 3. Narshakhi says that Ahmed was made governor of Merv, but from what follows this seems erroneous.
[217] d’Herbelot quotes a Persian quatrain in which the Tāhirides are enumerated—
Dar Khorāsān zi āl-i-Massābshāh,
Tāhir u Talha būd u Abdullāh,
Bāz Tāhir, digar Mohammad dān
Kū be Ya`kūb dād takht u kulāh.
Translation.—In Khorāsān, of the house of Massāb (Tāhir’s name was Tāhir ibn Husayn ibn Massāb) there were the following princes—Tāhir, Talha, `Abdullah, another Tāhir and then Mohammad, who gave up throne and crown to Ya`kūb.
[218] He ruled from A.H. 232–247 (846–861).
[219] In Arabic Saffār, whence the dynasty took its name.
[220] Cf. Khwāndamīr’s account of the Saffārides in his Habīb-us-Siyar. We refer the reader also to Nöldeke’s brilliant sketch of this man’s career, entitled “Ya`qūb the Coppersmith” (Sketches from Persian History, pp. 176–206).
[221] Malcolm, History of Persia, vol. i. p. 148.